1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a ski boot buckle for closing the shell of a ski boot and a ski boot fitted with this ski boot buckle, as defined in claims 1 and 13.
2. The Prior Art
AT 506 481 B1 discloses a ski boot buckle comprising a toothed plate, a fastener, a connecting piece and a lever which is mounted in a lever retaining means and can be held in its open position by means of a spring element with a predefined retaining force. The toothed plate is designed so that the fastener can be hooked in or fastened both in the pulling and pushing direction and the fastener, which together with the connecting piece establishes a pivotable connection to the lever, is fastened to the toothed plate and is able to apply a pushing force in order to push on the boot shell. As a result, when pushing back or on the lever, a first boot flap connected to the toothed plate and another boot flap connected to the lever retaining means are spaced apart or pushed apart from one another. The buckle is placed in a held-open position as a result because said spring element is provided in the form of a resilient tongue, which is mounted on the lever retaining means. This resilient tongue on the lever retaining means acts on the lever in such a way that when a specific pivot angle position has been exceeded, the lever is prevented from tipping back into the closed position of its own accord. Due to the fact that the lever has a contoured or cam-type shaping in its end portion lying closest to the lever retaining means, on which end portion the spring element acts, the lever can be fixed in its open position by means of the resilient tongue with a retaining force that can be manually overcome. In order to close the buckle, the lever has to be pushed in the direction of its closed position, whereby the lever forces the resilient tongue, tenses the fastener, pulls on the toothed plate and thus makes the overlap between the first and the other boot flap bigger so that the holding capacity of the boot shell is reduced. When a pivot position is exceeded during the operation of closing the lever, the lever is held in its closed position—in a manner known per se—and the ski boot buckle remains closed with the correspondingly desired tensioning or clamping force.
EP 2 198 730 A1 describes a ski boot buckle comprising a toothed plate, a fastener, a connecting piece and a lever which is mounted so as to be pivotable in a lever retaining means. Mounted on this lever is a ring-shaped or bow-shaped retaining element. The toothed plate is designed so that the fastener is able to hook in both in the pulling and pushing direction so that the fastener is able to exert both pulling and pushing forces on the toothed plate. An open position of the buckle is achieved due to the fact that the ring-shaped or bow-shaped retaining element latches or positively engages in an undercut or groove on the lever retaining means, as a result of which the lever is fixed in its open position. To enable the buckle to be closed again, its lever must firstly be opened to a slightly greater extent to allow the retaining element to be manually released from its latched position relative to the undercut on the lever retaining means. In this respect, the lever must be specifically pivoted beyond its open position to enable the positive engagement with the lever retaining means to be released.
The disadvantage of the design described in AT 506 481 B1 is that because of the specified arrangement of the spring element and the fact that it is provided in the form of a resilient tongue, there is a potential danger point. In particular, there is an increased possibility of injury to the user because during the process of closing or opening the ski boot buckle, the user can jam the fingers between the spring element and lever retaining means or knock against the resilient tongue.
The disadvantage of the design described in EP 2 198 730 A1 is that another component in the form of a ring-shaped or bow-shaped retaining element is necessary in order to fix the operating lever as and when necessary. The use of this retaining element increases the complexity of the buckle, as a result of which it is susceptible to breakage. Furthermore, the operating simplicity of the buckle in terms of a conventional ski boot can no longer be guaranteed because the retaining element has to be manually moved out of its engaged position in order to close the buckle. To this end, a person wanting to pull the ski boot on or off has to perform an additional manipulation. The retaining element is also awkward, especially if the ski boot buckle is operated whilst wearing ski gloves, and operation wearing gloves is made very difficult.